Boris Nemtsov Posthumously Given American Liberty Award

September 10, 20151,511 Views

Boris Nemtsov, the Russian opposition leader who was tragically assassinated last year, was posthumously awarded the American Liberty Award. The Award is annually presented by the International Republican institute in Washington, D.C., Russian service of BBC reports.

Nemtsov’s former colleague and Parnas party partner Vladimir Kara-Murza received the Award for the diseased politician. “As a political leader Boris Nemtsov always stood stable. He always said what he believed in and always did what he believed in. He never betrayed his principles, nor his friends, and he never placed his personal interests higher than his country’s interests,” BBC quotes Kara-Murza’s speech.

Senator John McCain who is the head of the International Republican Institute awarded Nemtsov’s Liberty Award. Prior to Nemtsov, only a few Russians have been awarded the same title: ballet artist Mikhail Baryshnikov, the former head of Pushkin State Museum Irina Antonova, and the writer Vasily Aksenov.

The Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was assassinated on the night of February 28 in 2014. A criminal investigation of Nemtsov’s murder is still on-going by the Central Investigation Department of Russia; Currently five suspects in the case are held by the Russian police, the main being Zaur Dadaev.